SHARK VS SHARK

CretoxyrhinavsOtodus obliquus

Length, weight and bite evidence—plus context from a human, city bus and blue whale. Every number below carries its uncertainty with it.

ExtinctCretoxyrhina mantelli×ExtinctOtodus obliquus
QUICK VERDICT

Otodus obliquus is about 1.30× longer by these reference values.

Otodus obliquus uses a 9.1 m upper reference, compared with 7 m for Cretoxyrhina. A clean mass ratio is not shown because at least one weight is not reliably reconstructed.

01

ON THE SAME SCALE

Human. Bus. Whale.
Pick your reference.

RELATIVE LENGTH · 0–24 METERS
ACretoxyrhinaestimated to about 7 m / 23 ft
BOtodus obliquusestimated to about 9.1 m / 30 ft
REFAdult human1.8 m · about 80 kg

Length bars use upper comparison values and do not show body depth, tail proportion or typical adult size. A long thresher tail, for example, does not equal whale-shark body mass.

02

THE NUMBERS

Side by side.

MeasureCretoxyrhinaOtodus obliquus
Length referenceestimated to about 7 m / 23 ftestimated to about 9.1 m / 30 ft
Weight referenceNot reliably reconstructedNot reliably reconstructed
Bite forceNo defensible estimate usedUnknownNo defensible estimate usedUnknown
Timeabout 107–73 million years agoabout 56–45 million years ago
DietLarge fishes and marine reptilesLarge fishes and marine vertebrates
03

WHAT THE DATA CAN SAY

Size is not the whole animal.

Length and weight

Cretoxyrhina is represented by estimated to about 7 m / 23 ft; Otodus obliquus by estimated to about 9.1 m / 30 ft. Length is reconstructed from fossils; mass is too model-dependent for a single figure here. Soft-body dimensions are inferred from teeth and living analogues.

Bite evidence

Cretoxyrhina: TuffShark does not scale a bite value without a published species-specific model. Otodus obliquus: No species-specific model is used.

Living versus extinct

At least one animal is known from fossils. Fossil length, weight and bite estimates depend on which living analogues and scaling equations researchers choose.

Ecology changes the matchup

Teeth and rare skeletal material point to a large, fast lamniform predator. It belonged to the megatooth lineage that later produced megalodon.

04

TRACE THE CLAIMS

Sources and limits.

CretoxyrhinaSmithsonian National Museum of Natural HistoryOtodus obliquusPaleobiology DatabaseHow we standardize comparisonsRead the methodology →